Tenpins & More @ Rio Rancho

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SCHENCK REALIZES POTENTIAL WITH WIN IN NEW MEXICO

Cortez Schenck of Phoenix gave Arizona another title after winning last Sunday's New Mexico Open bowling tournament in spectacular, if not fortunate, circumstances at hosting Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho.  Qualifying third for the four-person championship round, Schenck, 24, made sure of hitting the 2-pin on his fill ball to eliminate top-line professional, Jakob Butturff 228-227. (Schenck missed that same pin last year losing to eventual winner, Dylan Taylor by three pins to finish third).  After that, he beat a nervous Morgan Moore of Colorado 229-156 when Moore left six single pins, missing three of them to set up a title tilt against local favorite, J D Nance, looking to become the first bowler from New Mexico to win since John Young's back-to-back victories in 2004/2005.  Schenck had to beat the undefeated leader in the first match to force a replay for the crown and did so with a strong four strikes in a row from frames six through nine to win 227-182.

Nance, with a large crowd behind him, opened with a double, split then reeled off a six-bagger to have a win in his sights. Schenck meanwhile had a four-bagger to stay within range.  Nance lost the shot on the downswing in the tenth leaving an unconverted 3-7-9 for 230.

Schenck, who had previously won many Junior Bowler Tour titles at the Center, needed a double/count to snatch the $ 12,060 winner's check. He did just that for 233 and said in a later Facebook post simply "For you dad," after losing his father earlier this year. 

Schenck added, "I always look forward to this tournament because it's known to have a brutal pattern on the lanes every year, and this year did not disappoint. This iconic event had a stacked and incredibly talented field," he said.

For 21 games, Schenck averaged 220 trailing others including top qualifier Trey Ford's 231.5, Butturff's 231.1 and Mason Edmondson's 221.5 but coming through in the clutch, winning among others, 240-215 over Stefan Wood, 236-224 against Team USA alum, Nathan Bohr in a nail-biter and 221-204 from Edmondson to make "the show."

Nance, as the undefeated bracket leader also won some close ones, 436/2 over Sean Lavery-Spahr 420, 392-355 from Marshall Kent, 392-373 with Butturff and finally Moore 441-421 after being down by 30 pins after the first game.  Other New Mexico bowlers who cashed in the main event were Adrienne Hare, Gary Hadley, DeeRonn Booker, Josh Herschman, Carson Opela, Aileen Linares and Brian Schamber, while nine others won squad high game prizes.

In the Consolation tournament, Matt Zweig found a way to the strike pocket carding 278, 300, 235, 253 for 1,066 and a win from Rio Rancho's Guillermo Espinosa 917.

The accompanying Pro-Am, in which pros were paired with league bowlers saw Robin Prioleau win the youth division over Reid Ross, husband-and-wife, Elda and Gary Childers of Santa Fe first and second in the senior section and Patrick McManaman of Farmington beating Shawn Haines by 19 pins for the adult win.

BowlStreamTV.com will have all three days of the action archived for later viewing.

Tournament organizer, Steve Mackie announced next year's event, the 19th edition, would be held August 18-20.